In the Rage Against the Machine song “Sleep now in the fire”, there is a part where they list off forms of oppression- “I am the Nina The Pinta The Santa Maria-
The noose and the rapist- The fields overseer- The agents of orange- The priests of Hiroshima”. I understand them all except for “The Priests of Hiroshima”. Can anyone explain why they would be considered oppresive?
As a Rage fan I’m curious about this as well, so I’m bumping this one to keep it alive. A Google search turned up only a zillion RATM lyric pages, with no interpretation offered anywhere – which seems par for course among many Rage Heads, who unquestioningly follow whatever Mumia-Peltier-Zapatista cause Zack De la Rocha spearheads on his newest album.
“Priests”, speaking metaphorically, the members of the Manhattan Project and FDR and Harry Truman and the Joint Chiefs of Staff preaching the Gospel of Nuclear War. The “priests” didn’t consult the “congregation” (the American people), they just went ahead and sacrificed the citizens of Hiroshima on the altar of Total Warfare.
Oppressive priests doing exactly as they please, collecting tithes (taxes) from the “congregation” to pay for their personal projects and threatening the congregation with the wrath of God (the inscrutably evil Japanese Empire) if they don’t pony up.
Duck, that makes such perfect sense that I’m ashamed I was hunting for some literal “priests.” However, is this your interpretation or have Truman et al. had this particular nom de guerre applied to them before, in print or otherwise? Or is this a Rage invention?
It might also refer to Shinto priests, since Shinto at the time supported Japanese aggression; the Emperor was the Son of Heaven and could do no wrong.
That was just off the top of my head, which is crammed full to overflowing with 40 years or so of American culture. I’m not aware of any specific literary reference concerning “priests of Hiroshima”, but I do know that a lot of people weren’t happy about it.
I took the phrase as a sardonic 1960s-type anti-war activist protest.
Sorry to say, apparently Zack left the band just after their last release…last October?
RATM actually broke up before their last album, “Renegades,” was released. That album is just a bunch of covers they had laying around the studio. I haven’t heard anything yet as to any of their future plans.
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Rage Heads, who unquestioningly follow whatever Mumia-Peltier-Zapatista cause Zack De la Rocha spearheads on his newest album.
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Agreed.
I liked Rage until i saw them in concert and realized what a bunch of confused, punk-rock wannabes they are. Well, that and every one of their songs sound the same.
Whoops, this is GQ isn’t it? Well to answer your question, the lyric doesn’t mean anything, Zack is just mad. ‘Mad at what?’ you ask. He’s just mad.
And while it sucks that we had to drop the bomb, the fact is that we had to drop the bomb. Who the fuck is Zack De La Rocha to point fingers at people for that? Yea this country has done a shitload of wrong things and yea we’re living under a pretty corrupt government but the fact stands that we saved the goddamn world in WWII and if Zack De La Rocha doesn’t like it then he can go live in Nazi Germany circa 1939. See how well they recieve his whining there.